For a large majority of games this season, RISP has stood for Royals Insist on Stranding People. Monday night vs Arizona continued that trend with only a very occasional exception.
They were weirdly 3 for 10 with RISP last night. I'm not entirely sure how you leave that many on with a .300 night, but there's the small sample biting them, I guess.
I know it’s not now. But in your opinion at this rate, when are you comfortable saying this is a talent issue? I really expected to get mixed results this year…but more good than bad. It’s been the opposite and I find myself not blaming the coaches anymore you know? Like Keller, everyone else has improved throwing strikes…why can’t you. It’s not them, it’s you kind of a thing now which probably isn’t the best thinking either but I’m finding myself giving the players no benefit of the doubt anymore when it comes to performance. I think Cal was terrible….so don’t get me wrong. I expected to go the whole year before having a good handle on if it was coaching or talent. I’m pretty sure we can come to that conclusion by June now the way this is going.
It's a good question and I don't know the answer. On the mound, I think you can obviously start to make some judgments on Keller given that the last two years went the way they did for him and this is a continuation. I feel like Greinke and Lyles are who they are and then there's Singer, who I'm VERY interested in seeing tonight. Bubic looked like he made strides but now we won't see him for a year plus and Lynch hasn't thrown yet, so there are still way more questions than answers there.
And in the bullpen, the sample is monumentally small. I think it's fair to say that Carlos Hernandez has made huge strides. So why couldn't Dylan Coleman throw strikes? But I also don't know when we'll have an idea of who is to "blame" in these situations. But I do believe there's plenty of evidence that the coaching staff is at least competent when I know for a fact they weren't before.
Yeah true. It’s just weird right. Does it matter if they lose 66 games instead of 76? No, it really doesn’t matter. It’s just sucks as a fan looking for someone to blame 21 games in. Lol. Can’t be the coaching we just replaced most of them. I’m blaming the players more and more but that’s not fair to some of these guys who have a year or less in the league. So then you blame the front office. But when you are in the bottom 3 in almost all offensive categories you can’t just say we’re all good here. In the end, the experiment is working….just not the direction I was hoping.
It's a real bummer Melendez tweaked his back because he was starting to look good. I hope he's not out long. They're optimistic, but they've been optimistic before on injuries. Massey looks better to me, though I still wouldn't hate some time in AAA for him. Dozier's playing time has dropped a ton and Drew Waters is working his way back. Witt's had his ups and downs for sure and Vinnie looks like he's the real deal. I think the offense has obviously been an F so far, but I wouldn't be too surprised if they turn things around and you feel a lot better about them this time next month.
Ultimately, who matters on this team? Witt, Pasquantino, Melendez for sure. Probably Massey. Maybe Isbel. There are some others who should work their way up this year, but those are the ones to focus on. I like that Isbel has gotten some big hits against lefties recently. That's a plus. I'm just hoping for some more consistency as the season keeps going.
Isbel is a good outfielder, and he needs to keep playing every day to see if he can hit The only way to find out is to keep giving him abs. Guys like Olivares, JBJ, and Reyes don't look like the corner outfielders we need going forward. Now we're seeing how much Bennintendi is missed offensively. No one is close to his output.
There isn't much talent I agree with you. Probably the least in a long time. Our GM needs to have a back up plan with this roster because most of these guys are running out of time. If Piccolo doesn't find talent, someone one else will have his job.
Believing that Brad Keller would be consistent this season or even that he would be better than last year required a leap of faith that I simply couldn't take. I knew of no tangible reason to do so.
Nor could I take the leap of faith that would be required in order to have confidence in this latest crew of Magical Pitching Whisperers. Perhaps they've had limited success with isolated pitchers and perhaps not. We may all be overly willing to credit them for the "ups" in the normal ups and downs of baseball.
The fact that they know how to speak in ways that appeal to the analytically-oriented among us is no guarantee that they can improve performances or outcomes in the real world away from their spreadsheets and pitch charts.
I think that's being pretty pedantic in the way you describe the coaching staff. Both Sweeney and Bove have had proven success in previous roles. No, they aren't the roles they're in now, but there isn't a person in the game who doesn't believe they were excellent hires. It's not that the speak in ways that appeal to people. It's that they have had success in the big leagues with big league staffs. There's never a guarantee that anyone can do a job they haven't done with a team that hasn't done it in a long time.
The Royals have the 12th best walk rate in baseball the day after they walked eight. They had the fourth-worst walk rate in baseball over the last five years before this and the third-worst over the last three years. There is success being had with this group. It's not going to be instant. People LOVED the Brent Strom hire for the Diamondbacks last year and he helped individuals to grow. The team got better, but probably not nearly as much as some would have liked. They were put into a massive hole by the previous regime and the fact that they've made these strides with the basics of pitching in less than a month is actually kind of incredible.
I think you commnted on this earlier and it's not to be understaded...swinging at bad pitches can make a team look a lot worse in a hurry. Don't tell these guys are feeling the pressure to produce by swinging based on the overall runs produced by the team so far.
I am liking your comment. Not because I whole heartedly agree with you but because
"Magical Pitching Whisperers" is classic, thank you for the laugh in these strained baseball fan times. Gonna stick with Lesky on this one tho - there have been some obvious, positive changes - even if we aren't seeing the results yet. And while I think you pose a fair argument, I hope you are wrong, but also hope you keep posting
I hope you're right David, I truly do. But we all know it's easy to isolate numbers that appear to support a particular position when the preponderance of evidence points in the opposite direction. (The eminent economist Thomas Sowell called these "Aha! statistics.")
Given how guys like Keller and Singer have performed in their last few starts, I find myself unconvinced that "these strides" are really the kind of strides we all would like to see.
The biggest push they've made is to throw strikes. And you know what the team, as a whole is doing? They're throwing strikes. That's not analytical. It's just throwing strikes. They have the sixth-highest percentage of pitches in the zone, the 13th-highest first-pitch strike rate and the 12th-lowest walk rate. This is the first step of their process and it's working. Believe it or not, it's working.
Fair enough. Once again I genuinely hope you're right. I'll leave it alone after offering one final opinion: I think there's nearly a 50% chance that a couple of years from now we'll all be saying to ourselves, "What was I thinking? How could I possibly have bought into the hype about those guys?"
Of course I hope that's not the case but I think it's a very real possibility.
Given Q's propensity to pinch hit, I was surprised when he didn't pinch hit for Bradley after Isbel got his pinch hit. Bradley has been absolutely brutal at the plate. When is Waters supposed to be ready. Our outfield bats have been terrible all year.
The only player they had available was Fermin because Melendez wasn't available and they'd have had to do some funky stuff defensively had he hit for JBJ.
Waters is in extended spring training right now and I think has played a couple games. I'd guess the earliest we'll see him is the second week of May.
Oof. That one last night seemed uniquely frustrating to me. Which is saying something with a 5-18 team. Feels like we've had more than our share of starts, where only an inning or so into the game it is clear the starter doesn't "have it" and will be grinding to get through 4 innings. But the 5th inning was what was most frustrating to me. David, I'm curious if you have any thoughts regarding BWJ getting picked off? I'm a huge fan of Bobby, but as soon as he drew his walk (always nice to see him take a walk), Hud was pining for him to steal and even "go on first movement", which of course he ultimately did, leading to the pickoff. It seemed a little overly aggressive to me since their starter didn't seem to have very good stuff or command/control, and that was proved true by the walks and hit that followed. But what could have been a big inning turned into a single run. Did that jump out to you at all as poor decision-making, or am I just over-analyzing another disappointing night?
To be honest, I was reading my daughter a bedtime story right when that happened and never went back to watch, so I didn't see the play. I got back in time to see Pasquantino and Salvy get a couple hits, but I missed Witt's whole situation, so I honestly don't know the answer. I will say that the Royals hadn't been caught stealing this year and while that may seem perfect, it's probably a sign they should be running more and sometimes you're going to get caught.
I saw it. And in my opinion (only backed by many years of the eye test and no numbers whatsoever) - I liked it! I want to see them be aggressive/get a good lead versus defensive/lets hold onto one run & hope mentality. Have watched the Rays for years (AAA team nearby), and heck if Arozarenas steal attempts the past couple years always made me look with one eye open, but I think it was positive overall, and he is a superstar now. The royals one advantage is their youth and optimism, I say use it and pump them up to the team we hope they will be (dag just became a royals optimist again)
For a large majority of games this season, RISP has stood for Royals Insist on Stranding People. Monday night vs Arizona continued that trend with only a very occasional exception.
They were weirdly 3 for 10 with RISP last night. I'm not entirely sure how you leave that many on with a .300 night, but there's the small sample biting them, I guess.
I know it’s not now. But in your opinion at this rate, when are you comfortable saying this is a talent issue? I really expected to get mixed results this year…but more good than bad. It’s been the opposite and I find myself not blaming the coaches anymore you know? Like Keller, everyone else has improved throwing strikes…why can’t you. It’s not them, it’s you kind of a thing now which probably isn’t the best thinking either but I’m finding myself giving the players no benefit of the doubt anymore when it comes to performance. I think Cal was terrible….so don’t get me wrong. I expected to go the whole year before having a good handle on if it was coaching or talent. I’m pretty sure we can come to that conclusion by June now the way this is going.
It's a good question and I don't know the answer. On the mound, I think you can obviously start to make some judgments on Keller given that the last two years went the way they did for him and this is a continuation. I feel like Greinke and Lyles are who they are and then there's Singer, who I'm VERY interested in seeing tonight. Bubic looked like he made strides but now we won't see him for a year plus and Lynch hasn't thrown yet, so there are still way more questions than answers there.
And in the bullpen, the sample is monumentally small. I think it's fair to say that Carlos Hernandez has made huge strides. So why couldn't Dylan Coleman throw strikes? But I also don't know when we'll have an idea of who is to "blame" in these situations. But I do believe there's plenty of evidence that the coaching staff is at least competent when I know for a fact they weren't before.
Yeah true. It’s just weird right. Does it matter if they lose 66 games instead of 76? No, it really doesn’t matter. It’s just sucks as a fan looking for someone to blame 21 games in. Lol. Can’t be the coaching we just replaced most of them. I’m blaming the players more and more but that’s not fair to some of these guys who have a year or less in the league. So then you blame the front office. But when you are in the bottom 3 in almost all offensive categories you can’t just say we’re all good here. In the end, the experiment is working….just not the direction I was hoping.
It's a real bummer Melendez tweaked his back because he was starting to look good. I hope he's not out long. They're optimistic, but they've been optimistic before on injuries. Massey looks better to me, though I still wouldn't hate some time in AAA for him. Dozier's playing time has dropped a ton and Drew Waters is working his way back. Witt's had his ups and downs for sure and Vinnie looks like he's the real deal. I think the offense has obviously been an F so far, but I wouldn't be too surprised if they turn things around and you feel a lot better about them this time next month.
Ultimately, who matters on this team? Witt, Pasquantino, Melendez for sure. Probably Massey. Maybe Isbel. There are some others who should work their way up this year, but those are the ones to focus on. I like that Isbel has gotten some big hits against lefties recently. That's a plus. I'm just hoping for some more consistency as the season keeps going.
Isbel is a good outfielder, and he needs to keep playing every day to see if he can hit The only way to find out is to keep giving him abs. Guys like Olivares, JBJ, and Reyes don't look like the corner outfielders we need going forward. Now we're seeing how much Bennintendi is missed offensively. No one is close to his output.
I guess they're missing him, but if they gave him the contract the White Sox did, it would have been a MASSIVE mistake.
Absolutely we're not paying for his contract. My point is we have such a drop off in corner outfielders right now with no help on the way.
👍
There isn't much talent I agree with you. Probably the least in a long time. Our GM needs to have a back up plan with this roster because most of these guys are running out of time. If Piccolo doesn't find talent, someone one else will have his job.
Believing that Brad Keller would be consistent this season or even that he would be better than last year required a leap of faith that I simply couldn't take. I knew of no tangible reason to do so.
Nor could I take the leap of faith that would be required in order to have confidence in this latest crew of Magical Pitching Whisperers. Perhaps they've had limited success with isolated pitchers and perhaps not. We may all be overly willing to credit them for the "ups" in the normal ups and downs of baseball.
The fact that they know how to speak in ways that appeal to the analytically-oriented among us is no guarantee that they can improve performances or outcomes in the real world away from their spreadsheets and pitch charts.
I think that's being pretty pedantic in the way you describe the coaching staff. Both Sweeney and Bove have had proven success in previous roles. No, they aren't the roles they're in now, but there isn't a person in the game who doesn't believe they were excellent hires. It's not that the speak in ways that appeal to people. It's that they have had success in the big leagues with big league staffs. There's never a guarantee that anyone can do a job they haven't done with a team that hasn't done it in a long time.
The Royals have the 12th best walk rate in baseball the day after they walked eight. They had the fourth-worst walk rate in baseball over the last five years before this and the third-worst over the last three years. There is success being had with this group. It's not going to be instant. People LOVED the Brent Strom hire for the Diamondbacks last year and he helped individuals to grow. The team got better, but probably not nearly as much as some would have liked. They were put into a massive hole by the previous regime and the fact that they've made these strides with the basics of pitching in less than a month is actually kind of incredible.
I think you commnted on this earlier and it's not to be understaded...swinging at bad pitches can make a team look a lot worse in a hurry. Don't tell these guys are feeling the pressure to produce by swinging based on the overall runs produced by the team so far.
I am liking your comment. Not because I whole heartedly agree with you but because
"Magical Pitching Whisperers" is classic, thank you for the laugh in these strained baseball fan times. Gonna stick with Lesky on this one tho - there have been some obvious, positive changes - even if we aren't seeing the results yet. And while I think you pose a fair argument, I hope you are wrong, but also hope you keep posting
Thank you for the kind words and to David's great dismay I'll probably keep posting here regularly unless the apathy monster catches up with me.
I promise you that nobody hopes I'm wrong about the new pitching coaches more than I do! (Well, maybe John Sherman....)
I hope you're right David, I truly do. But we all know it's easy to isolate numbers that appear to support a particular position when the preponderance of evidence points in the opposite direction. (The eminent economist Thomas Sowell called these "Aha! statistics.")
Given how guys like Keller and Singer have performed in their last few starts, I find myself unconvinced that "these strides" are really the kind of strides we all would like to see.
The biggest push they've made is to throw strikes. And you know what the team, as a whole is doing? They're throwing strikes. That's not analytical. It's just throwing strikes. They have the sixth-highest percentage of pitches in the zone, the 13th-highest first-pitch strike rate and the 12th-lowest walk rate. This is the first step of their process and it's working. Believe it or not, it's working.
Fair enough. Once again I genuinely hope you're right. I'll leave it alone after offering one final opinion: I think there's nearly a 50% chance that a couple of years from now we'll all be saying to ourselves, "What was I thinking? How could I possibly have bought into the hype about those guys?"
Of course I hope that's not the case but I think it's a very real possibility.
Given Q's propensity to pinch hit, I was surprised when he didn't pinch hit for Bradley after Isbel got his pinch hit. Bradley has been absolutely brutal at the plate. When is Waters supposed to be ready. Our outfield bats have been terrible all year.
The only player they had available was Fermin because Melendez wasn't available and they'd have had to do some funky stuff defensively had he hit for JBJ.
Waters is in extended spring training right now and I think has played a couple games. I'd guess the earliest we'll see him is the second week of May.
Oof. That one last night seemed uniquely frustrating to me. Which is saying something with a 5-18 team. Feels like we've had more than our share of starts, where only an inning or so into the game it is clear the starter doesn't "have it" and will be grinding to get through 4 innings. But the 5th inning was what was most frustrating to me. David, I'm curious if you have any thoughts regarding BWJ getting picked off? I'm a huge fan of Bobby, but as soon as he drew his walk (always nice to see him take a walk), Hud was pining for him to steal and even "go on first movement", which of course he ultimately did, leading to the pickoff. It seemed a little overly aggressive to me since their starter didn't seem to have very good stuff or command/control, and that was proved true by the walks and hit that followed. But what could have been a big inning turned into a single run. Did that jump out to you at all as poor decision-making, or am I just over-analyzing another disappointing night?
To be honest, I was reading my daughter a bedtime story right when that happened and never went back to watch, so I didn't see the play. I got back in time to see Pasquantino and Salvy get a couple hits, but I missed Witt's whole situation, so I honestly don't know the answer. I will say that the Royals hadn't been caught stealing this year and while that may seem perfect, it's probably a sign they should be running more and sometimes you're going to get caught.
Gotcha. Good call on that. Bedtime stories for your kiddos always beat watching guys get picked off.
I'm confident I made the right choice. I should have just gone to bed and missed the rest too, but I'm not that smart.
I saw it. And in my opinion (only backed by many years of the eye test and no numbers whatsoever) - I liked it! I want to see them be aggressive/get a good lead versus defensive/lets hold onto one run & hope mentality. Have watched the Rays for years (AAA team nearby), and heck if Arozarenas steal attempts the past couple years always made me look with one eye open, but I think it was positive overall, and he is a superstar now. The royals one advantage is their youth and optimism, I say use it and pump them up to the team we hope they will be (dag just became a royals optimist again)
Good point. You know the minors better than me. Forgot about Waters.